anathema

American  

[uh-nath-uh-muh] / əˈnæθ ə mə /

noun

• anathemas,
  plural
• anathemata
  plural

1. a person or thing detested or loathed.

   That subject is anathema to him.

2. a person or thing accursed or consigned to damnation or destruction.

3. a formal ecclesiastical curse involving excommunication.

4. any imprecation of divine punishment.

5. a curse; execration.

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anathema British  

/ əˈnæθəmə /

noun

1. a detested person or thing

   he is anathema to me

2. a formal ecclesiastical curse of excommunication or a formal denunciation of a doctrine

3. the person or thing so cursed

4. a strong curse; imprecation

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• anathemas
  plural
• anathemata
  plural

Etymology

Origin of anathema

First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin, from Greek: “a thing accursed, devoted to evil,” originally “devoted,” from ana(ti)thé(nai) “to set up” + -ma, noun suffix

Explanation

Something that one absolutely and positively cannot stand is anathema. Garlic is anathema to vampires (ditto for stakes and daylight). So is kryptonite to Superman or a silver bullet to a werewolf. Originally the term anathema comes from the Catholic practice of denouncing a particular individual or idea that was antithetical to the Catholic Church. If done to a person, it excommunicated them, meaning they could no longer partake in the church's sacraments (with presumably pretty poor consequences for the soul.) That's a lot worse than kryptonite.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

anathema anathemas

As somebody who was at the DOJ for 21 years, I find that to be anathema to how I thought about public service.

From Slate ● Jun. 9, 2026

Commercials were anathema to Hastings, but Netflix has now built an ad business.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 6, 2025

The casual word “untitled” was pretty common in art, but it possesses an air of disinterest that seems anathema in the vicinity of a Therrien.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2025

District Judge William G. Young, a Ronald Reagan appointee, recently pointed out that use of masked law enforcement officers had long been considered anathema to American ideals.

From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2025

All forms of obvious vulgarity were anathema to Keith.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

As he pronounced anathemas on you and your kind, the smile peeked out beneath the sneer.

From Slate ● Dec. 16, 2011

When he hurls his anathemas, he tends to scream unintelligibly, suggesting the hapless actor of whom Kenneth Tynan wrote that listening to his Lear "was like lip reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning."

From Time Magazine Archive

He can insinuate like a violin, wheedle like a clarinet and thunder anathemas like a great bass drum.

From Time Magazine Archive

The next year the spiritual leaders of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy withdrew the mutual anathemas that their predecessors had hurled at each other a full millennium before.

From Time Magazine Archive

The abolition churches of the North received the anathemas of the churches of the South and vice versa.

From The History of the Negro Church by Carter Godwin Woodson

Related Words

• bane
• pariah